Bringing Good Luck to your Husband in the ’70s

Su Yue mixed a pot of cabbage and pork stuffing and was alive again. Han Aiguo is responsible for rolling out the dough, while Su Yue, Mrs. Han and Han Aimin are responsible for making dumplings.

Looking at the fat white flour dumplings, Han Aimin said happily: “Zhang Cui’e compensated our family for two pounds of meat. I heard that their family started quarreling after returning home. It seemed that everyone in their family was blaming Zhang Cui’e and Wang Yaru, now they are crying and making trouble. I also heard from Aunt Yan next door to her that the eldest brother and sister-in-law of the Wang family asked Wang Yaru to be married off , and they don’t want her to stay at home for more than a year.”

Old Mrs. Han He snorted coldly, “she deserve it. Who asked them to cause trouble for your eldest brother and sister-in-law? Just using her two pounds of meat as compensation is going easy on them. That old Zhang Cui’e scolds our family at home every day but we don’t say her anything.”

Han Aimin laughed and nodded, “The two kilograms of meat this time probably made them feel bad. Let’s see if they dare to trouble our family again in the future.”

Su Yue felt that after this incident, Zhang Cui’e probably only dared to go behind her back. She already scolded them, but she didn’t dare to scold them in person again. After all, two pounds of meat was a heavy loss, and even her heart was bleeding.

The family ate dumplings in the evening. As soon as the plump and white dumplings came out of the pot, they were so fragrant that Su Yue couldn’t help but salivate. There was no way, there was a shortage of oil and water these days, and she was also greedy. Even though their family’s life was much better than other families in the brigade, they couldn’t eat meat every day, white noodles and dumplings when they had to pay for everything. It would be nice to have it twice a year.

Now she can finally understand the expectations of people in this era for the Chinese New Year. The Chinese New Year means that they can get food, money, and pork. Once they get the food, they can eat some good food to replenish themselves. How can people not look forward to it? Woolen cloth.

Unlike people in the 21st century, who are used to eating out in restaurants with big fish and meat, the taste of the Chinese New Year is getting weaker and weaker for people. Many people don’t even like the Chinese New Year and have a headache just thinking about it.

It’s true that the worse life gets, the more festive the New Year will be.

Su Yue was sighing when she was interrupted by a child’s cry.

“Grandma Grandma…” Xiaolei and Maomao ran in from the door one after another, calling Mrs. Han’s voice more affectionately.

As soon as Mrs. Han heard the voices of these two children, she waved her hands with a headache and said helplessly: “These two dog noses are here again.”

Su Yue and Han Aimin both burst out laughing. These two children did probably came here after smelling the aroma of dumplings coming out of the pot again.

Maomao ran to the table first, raised his head and looked at Old Mrs. Han helplessly, biting her fingers and asking, pretending not to know, “Grandma, what are you eating?”

Old Mrs. Han poked her finger angrily. On his forehead, “You little puppy nose don’t pretend? I wonder how you can come in such a timely manner?”

Maomao chirped, ignoring Old Mrs. Han’s shabby expression, and just looked at the table with his eyes. , if possible, Su Yue estimated that the bowl on the table would be pierced alive by his eyes.

Xiao Lei was more direct. He took a small bench from the side and stood on the bench.
Holding the edge of the table, he looked hard into the bowl and begged: “Grandma, you guys are eating dumplings. I want to eat them too. Grandma, please do me a favor and give me a bite.”

After giving him a lesson for asking for food, don’t know whether it was because he had learned some tricks or because his mother had taught him tricks after going back. He no longer asked for food, but learned to beg for it. The most common saying was that his words were: “Please give me some grandma.” or “Grandma, please have mercy on me.”

But Mrs. Han was so angry that she felt that this child was talking like a beggar. Are you going to be a beggar?

But the most helpless thing is that it’s hard to refuse the children even though they are angry. Although they know that the two children were instigated by their mothers, otherwise they wouldn’t run over to ask for food as soon as they smell the fragrance of the old house. They just eat right. As a grandmother, she couldn’t bear to refuse her two children. But Mrs. Han really couldn’t bear to be so cruel.

As a grandmother, she could be cruel to adults, but how could she be so cruel to her grandson and eat it herself while letting the children watch from the sidelines.

There is an old woman in the village who has separated her family and is able to prevent her grandson from eating her own food, but Old Mrs. Han is too soft-hearted to do this. Every time she was begged by the two children, she ended up giving it to them.

Han Lao’s second daughter-in-law and Han Lao’s third daughter-in-law also grasped this point of Mrs. Han.

Old Mrs. Han had no choice but to say to Han Aimin: “Aimin, go get two bowls and serve them a few dumplings each.”

Han Aimin muttered dissatisfiedly: “It must have been taught by my two sisters-in-law. Every time we are here When we were cooking something delicious, these two boys came over on time. Sometimes Maomao and Xiao Lei were playing outside, don’t know who called them back.”

Old Mrs. Han said: “Okay, stop talking about this, serve them some.”

Han Aimin stood up and went to the kitchen to serve it.

Old Mrs. Han asked Xiao Lei and Maomao: “How do you eat the meat that your family shares?”

Xiao Lei pouted and said unhappily: “My mother didn’t let us eat it. She said she would save some for my grandma’s house. We’ll eat the rest after the Chinese New Year.”

Maomao was even more unhappy than Xiao Lei, “My dad doesn’t know how to cook meat, and the rice he cooks is terrible. I don’t even like it.”

Mrs. Han sighed and said the lives of Han Lao Er and Han Lao San are becoming more and more uneasy, especially Han Lao San’s family. Han Lao San’s daughter-in-law can’t work now. Han Lao San has to rely on Himself to do all the work inside and outside. He has never been in the kitchen. The grown man doesn’t know how to take care of the food for a family. Especially since the New Year is coming soon, he a grown man, doesn’t know how he can spend the New Year.

Thinking of this, Mrs. Han asked Han Aiguo and Su Yue: “Usually our family celebrates the New Year together. This year we are separated. Do you think it is better for us to spend the New Year together or separately?”

Su Yue did not answer but looked at Han Aiguo.

Han Aiguo actually knew what his mother was thinking. In fact, the old lady wanted the whole family to be reunited and spend the New Year happily. As a old man gets older, he likes to see his sons united and happy, and wants the whole family to celebrate the New Year together.

Even though the second and third sisters-in-law are always noisy, the old lady still feels sorry for her son and grandson.

Therefore, Han Aiguo said: “Mom, let the second brother and the third brother come over here to have New Year’s Eve dinner. The whole family must be reunited during the New Year.”

When the old lady heard this, she immediately laughed and said hurriedly: ” Okay then, let your second brother and third brother bring their wife and children over for a New Year’s Eve dinner, and our family will have a lively New Year.”

After Mrs. Han finished speaking, she said to Su Yue: ” daughter-in-law, they are here to celebrate the New Year, so you would have to cook more dishes, and you will be tired this year.”

Su Yue waved her hands carelessly, “Mom, it’s okay, it’s the New Year, eventually I would have to cook more dishes, so I won’t be tired.”

Old Mrs. Han smiled even more happily, and she immediately started thinking about what dishes to prepare.

Su Yue saw that the old lady was so happy. Although she didn’t like Han Lao Er and Han Lao San’s wife, she didn’t care about it for the old lady’s happiness.

————

On the second day after dividing the pork, snowflakes began to fall in the sky. This was the first snow this winter.

The children cheered and wanted to go out to play in the snow, but the adults were afraid that the children would get their clothes wet and have no clothes to wear in the winter, so they were not allowed to go out to play. The voices of adults scolding the children were always heard in the village.

It snowed heavily, and the snowflakes that fell on the ground turned into ice after being frozen by the low temperature overnight. It was very easy to slip and fall when walking on it. In this case, the brigade decided to stop the work activities of the members and start working again after the new year. work.

The members were very happy about this. They were finally able to celebrate the Chinese New Year comfortably at home.

At the same time, they prepared New Year items at home: making rice cakes, making bean buns, steaming steamed buns, grinding tofu, making dumplings, etc.

But at the end of the year, the brigade still has one very important thing to do, and that is the money settlement. The members have been busy all year long. At the end of the year, the brigade will uniformly settle the work points, convert the work points into money, and then remove the several distributions during the year. The remaining food can be exchanged for food, or you can ask for money directly. At the same time, the brigade will also issue some food stamps, stamps, cloth stamps, and non-staple food stamps to the members. It can be said that many members are waiting for this time at the end of the year.

However, some families earn less money. The grains distributed before were distributed according to the population. Some families were distributed more. At this time, let alone the grain and money, they have to make up the money to the brigade.

The process of calculating work points is very complicated, and the amount of calculation is so large that the accountants of the brigade begin to worry months in advance. The accountant of the brigade was not born as a professional accountant, that is, he learned a little bit from an old accountant when he was young.

Because he knew how to use an abacus and write, he later became the accountant of the brigade. He usually has no problem settling accounts, but he is afraid of complicated accounts like settling accounts at the end of the year, which really gives him a headache. Anyway, he has to lose a lot of hair every year because of this.

This year is also the case. The Chinese New Year is about to come, and the work points have not yet been settled. The accountant of the brigade is very worried. He is so worried that he is almost blind staring at the ledger. He really wants someone to help him share the burden.

At this time, he suddenly remembered Su Yue, the last time grain was distributed, Su Yue didn’t need an abacus, she just calculated the numbers in her mind, which was more accurate than his abacus, and she could tell at a glance that he had made a mistake.

The accountant of the brigade was very fond of her and knew that she was good at arithmetic, so he wanted to ask her for help. He went to the production team leader and party secretary to discuss: “There are too many accounts at the end of the year and they are too complicated. It will take a while to calculate them. But it’s snowing, and the members are waiting for things to be distributed.  We need to finish the calculation as soon as possible, Party Secretary, can you please find someone to help me temporarily?”

The Party Secretary also knows that year-end settlement is a troublesome job, and he also wants to distribute things to the members as soon as possible, but where can he find someone to help with the calculation temporarily? ?

He took a drag on his cigarette, sighed and said, “It’s not like you don’t know that most of our members are illiterate. It’s good if they can calculate small accounts. Who can calculate big accounts? Where can I find a person for you??”

The accountant said with a smile: “I have someone to recommend for this. I think Comrade Su Yue, the eldest daughter-in-law of the Han family, can do it.”

The branch secretary was stunned, “Su Yue ? Su educated youth? She can do it?”

The accountant nodded, “Last time I think she can calculate numbers without an abacus, and she’s pretty good at it. Besides, they’re educated youths, and they’ve all gone to school, so they should have no problem calculating accounts, so why not ask her to help.”

The Party Secretary thought. Yes, he nodded, “Okay, let’s go find Comrade Su Yue for help. We won’t ask her for help in vain. We will give their family more things.”

The accountant of the brigade was very happy and immediately went to find Su Yue.

When Su Yue heard that he wanted to help settle the accounts, she hesitated. The main reason was that she was busy now. She had to help make pastries and make steamed buns, bean bags, candies for the New Year, etc. She was busy all day long, so how could she have time to help them ?

The accountant of the brigade saw Su Yue’s hesitation and immediately said: “Comrade Su Yue, we don’t ask you for free help, we will give you something more as reward.”

Su Yue became interested after hearing this, “Then what can you give  me ?”

The brigade accountant said: “I can give you more grain, tofu, meat or tickets. What do you want?”

Su Yue felt happy. She wanted to get more meat. She can’t buy meat these days even if she has money. During the Chinese New Year, the whole family only had about ten kilograms of meat to eat, which in her opinion was pitiful. If you help, wouldn’t you get more meat?

“Uncle Accountant, I don’t want anything else, can you give me more meat? We don’t have enough meat at home.”

The accountant agreed without hesitation after hearing this, “Okay, I’ll go back and discuss it with the party secretary, and I’ll give you some more meat when the time comes.”

Su Yue agreed immediately, and agreed with the accountant that she would go  to help him settle accounts in the afternoon.

Mrs. Han was very happy after knowing this. She felt that her eldest daughter-in-law was really capable. Even the brigade asked her for help, and she could get more meat.

She felt proud and said to Su Yue: “You just go ahead, mother can do things at home. I’m not busy and I have Aiguo and Aimin to help me.”

After lunch, Han Aiguo wrapped Su Yue tightly in a big cotton-padded jacket and trousers, and also put a scarf on her, but the scarf was very low-tech, covering her entire face, leaving only a pair of eyes outside. She looked like the rustic country woman in the movies she had seen. He is still afraid that she will be cold.

Thinking that if there was no stove in the brigade headquarters, she would be freezing sitting there all afternoon, so he wanted to add some clothes to her.

Su Yue quickly hugged his hand and said, “I’m not cold. If I wear it any longer, I won’t be able to walk. My back is sweating now.”

Han Aiguo put his hand into her clothes and touched it. After touching her back, he felt a slight sweat, so he gave up and took her to the brigade headquarters in person. He watched her go in before going home.

When the brigade accountant saw Su Yue coming, he brought her to his table, moved a chair for her to sit on, and then placed the work share book and accounting book in front of her to show her, “Comrade Su Yue, This is the work share book and account book of our brigade members for one year. Each of us will take half, and you will be responsible for this half.”

After saying that, he told Su Yue how to calculate: “One centimeter is five cents, and each person has one half. Convert the work points into money, then remove the amount of food that has been distributed before, calculate how much money is left in the end, and then decide whether to give them food or money according to the members’ wishes.”

” Okay.” This is very simple, After Su Yue understood it, she immediately started doing calculations in the ledger.

The accountant gave her an abacus, and Su Yue shook her head, “I don’t like to use an abacus, I can do it myself.”

How can she calculate without an abacus? Is it really mental arithmetic? The accountant of the brigade was full of doubts and curiosity, so he was not in a hurry to calculate it, and just watched how Su Yue calculated it.

The party secretary was also worried that Su Yue, a person who had never worked as an accountant, would settle the accounts, so he came here specifically to see if Su Yue could do it. If not, he would have to replace her.

Su Yue didn’t care how they watched, she just did her own calculations. She did mental arithmetic combined with verbal arithmetic. She had learned mental arithmetic when she was a child and could calculate with just one finger, especially at this level. Simple calculations are not difficult for her at all. When it comes to complex calculations, she can make a rough draft of the calculations on paper, which is much faster than using a compass, and the calculation results will not be wrong.

Then the brigade accountant and party secretary were stunned by Su Yue’s algorithm. They saw Su Yue moving her ten fingers while looking at the account book. The fingers moved so fast that it seemed like dancing, which made people unable to see. They didn’t understand what she is doing, and she is mumbling something at the same time. They can’t understand what she is saying, but the strange thing is that she can calculate a person’s work points in a few seconds, and then quickly write it down in the ledger, then move on to the next one.

It’s jaw-droppingly neat.

The branch secretary and the brigade accountant looked at each other, and the branch secretary whispered hesitantly: “She is calculating too quickly, and I don’t know if she is right.”

The accountant also felt unbelievable, and quickly took his abacus and followed it. He recalculated the work points of the employees that she had just calculated, and found miraculously that Su Yue’s calculations were not bad at all, and every one of them was correct.

The accountant swallowed his saliva, and was filled with admiration in his heart. He used to think that he was able to move the abacus quickly enough and rarely made any mistakes when calculating the accounts, and he was very proud of it. Today, he realized that there are people out there who can do it without any calculations and can calculate such complex things quickly and well.

These account books that gave him a headache were as easy as playing in her hands.